Mountains in the Distance
by emerald-hopes
Summary: Their child has been dead for a year... So why are they suddenly seeing her again, just as if she was alive? Their beautiful daughter... Why is she back? Why does she harm everyone they care about?
1. Audrey's Funeral

TITLE: Mountains in the Distance  
  
AUTHOR: emerald-hopes  
  
RATING: R for language, violence, some sexuality, and mature thematic elements  
  
SUMMARY: Their child has been dead for a year... So why are they suddenly seeing her again, just as if she was alive? The result of sex, their beautiful daughter... Why is she back? Why does she harm everyone they care about?  
  
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing here except my own characters, and I think you'll be able to figure out who they are. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.  
  
A/N: I'm sorry in advance if something here doesn't match up with something that we learn in the fifth book; I'm not done reading it yet. Also, I know this is short, but it's the prologue. I'll most likely update again tomorrow. I would do so again today, but I have somewhere to be at 6:00, so unfortunately I'll have to put this story on hold until tomorrow, Sunday. This is the sequel to "Lightning Strikes", so if you haven't already read that, I suggest you do so before you begin reading this fic.  
  
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"May her soul rest in peace. Amen."  
  
The small, flower-covered wooden casket was lowered into the cold earth with a loud THUNK. One hundred and fourteen eyes gazed sadly at the grave, silently paying their last respects to Audrey Lily Potter. The pastor closed his Bible and led the group in a prayer.  
  
A woman with curly brown tresses and chocolate brown eyes choked back a sob and turned away. She could not bear to see her daughter be swallowed up by the ground, for she was Hermione Potter, the girl's mother.  
  
Hermione turned to her husband Harry and sagged against him, not caring that she was wrinkling her long-sleeved black dress. It was a cold January afternoon, and the ground and trees were covered with beautiful, pure white snow. But to Hermione everything might as well have been covered in dark red blood, for now she had no children, no little smiling face to cherish.  
  
Harry quietly led Hermione away from the group of people gathered around Audrey's grave and held her close to him. It was an awful time for both of them. Harry's parents had been murdered when he was only a baby, and aside from a few wicked relatives that he didn't maintain contact with, Hermione and Audrey had been his only immediate family. It had been wonderful to have in-laws like Mr. and Mrs. Granger. They were so welcoming, even though they were Muggles, they were always eager to watch Audrey when Harry and Hermione went out, and they loved Harry like their own son. But now they were gone too. Harry felt as though his world was slipping away, person by person, day by day.  
  
Hermione buried her face in Harry's shoulder, fighting back more tears. Why? Why was her daughter dead? Why did she fall from her bedroom window? And how? How had she gotten onto the windowsill? Not by herself, that was for sure. Hermione wished the Hogsmede coroner, Ned James, had the answer to those and many other questions the Potters had. Ned promised he was doing his best, and he had already made a lot of progress with Hermione's parents.  
  
An unknown force too had murdered them not long before Audrey fell from her window. The funeral service for the Grangers had been held two weeks prior, and it had been no better than Audrey's. Thanks to the latest in wizard technology, lifeless corpses could be duplicated and kept by a coroner for testing so there could be a body to bury without making the family wait a long time for a funeral to take place.  
  
Hermione looked up just in time to see Ned James walking solemnly over to herself and Harry. Ned's graying hair blew about in the wind as he made his way toward them. When he reached the Potters he shook Harry's hand and put a consoling hand on Hermione's shoulder for a moment, his dark brown eyes full of sympathy.  
  
"I'm so sorry to bother you at a time like this," Ned began, removing his hand from Hermione's shoulder, "but I think there's something you should know about your daughter." 


	2. The Talk

DISCLAIMER: I own nothing here except my own characters, and I think you'll be able to figure out who they are. Everything else belongs to J.K. Rowling.  
  
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"Would you care for tea Mr. James?" asked Hermione politely.  
  
"Yes please; that would be lovely," said the coroner, smiling at Hermione as she stood up from the kitchen table.  
  
"Now, what was this about your having something important to say?" asked Harry, biting into a scone.  
  
"Oh, yes, well . . . I have completed my autopsy of Audrey and I wanted to discuss the final report with you, if that's okay," said Mr. James, taking a blueberry scone off the plate in the center of the table.  
  
"I'm glad you wish to do so," said Hermione, placing a teacup down in front of Mr. James, "Cream and sugar?"  
  
"Yes please," said Mr. James, the steam from the tea curling it's way up to the ceiling.  
  
After Mr. James had approached the Potters at Audrey's funeral, Harry had asked Mr. James back to his and Hermione's house for tea so they could talk. So after the funeral guests had left the cemetery, Mr. James had followed the Potters back to their house in his car. Now, as he sat across the table from Harry and Hermione, he wondered exactly how he was going to break the news to them.  
  
"Before we begin, I wanted to asked you if you've gotten any farther on the matter of my parents Mr. James," said Hermione.  
  
"Unfortunately no, as adults usually take longer to go over than children. But I can assure you that by the end of the month I should have information for you. And please, call me Ned," said the coroner.  
  
Hermione nodded. "Thank you Ned," she told him. "Now, on the subject of Audrey . . ." she did her best to hold back her tears. Harry took her hand under the table and squeezed it gently.  
  
"It seems that your daughter had extraordinary powers," began Ned. "For instance, it has come to my attention that she was a true Seer. I have evaluated your family tree but I have not found anyone in either one of your descendants who has strong powers like that."  
  
Harry nodded. "So you're saying Audrey could have made predictions of the future and correctly read palms and crystal balls?" he asked.  
  
"Yes," said Ned nodding, "and if you studied Divination at Hogwarts, you know what else she could have done. Tea leaves and dream interpretations are among the other things as well."  
  
"I took Divination, and Hermione studied it for awhile as well," said Harry, "but what else did you find?"  
  
"Physically, Audrey was in a very good state. A strong heart and other organs, average size and weight, good nutrition levels . . . But something else clearly wasn't right," said Ned, taking a sip of his tea, which tasted of lemon.  
  
"What would that be?" asked Hermione, sitting forward a bit.  
  
"Well, her mental state was a bit odd. Nothing such as a learning disability or anything like that, no . . . It was something else," said the coroner.  
  
"What? What was it?" asked Harry.  
  
"It seems that she has very high levels of feraversum in her blood. Feraversum is a hormone that only wizards produce in their bodies. It affects their level of power to do magic. Both of you have high levels of feraversum in you, but Audrey's is through the roof," Ned stopped to take a bite of his scone.  
  
"Was this feraversum affecting Audrey mentally?" asked Harry.  
  
"It appears so, yes," said Mr. James, "and therefore she could sense things such as danger and agitation among powerful Dark wizards . . . Almost like you Mr. Potter."  
  
Harry looked down at the table for a moment before speaking. "Do you mean to say that Audrey knew when Hermione's parents were to be killed?"  
  
Hermione gave an involuntary shudder just thinking about it.  
  
"I believe so. Although she may not have acted differently, it seems to me that she knew something was wrong, " Ned paused for a moment before continuing, "and it may be that she was feeling so afflicted by the events that were to take place the following morning that led to her suicide."  
  
Harry blinked. "What do you mean, 'the events that were to take place the following morning'?"  
  
At the same time Hermione gasped and said, "What do you mean, 'suicide'?"  
  
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TO THE REVIEWERS OF CHAPTER ONE:  
  
harryschic: Thanks! It is a sad story, but I was in the mood for writing something sad one day and it just took off!  
  
specs-88: It is sweet isn't it? I'm glad to be giving you a H/Hr fic!  
  
lizard: Sorry about the cutoff - I'll try and do better next time! I love to leave you all hanging though!  
  
wind nymph: Intriguing is the right way to spell the word, so yes, you got it right. A very nice word to describe this fic!  
  
Dracos-AngelGyrl: Wow, I almost made someone cry! Thanks for your review!  
  
The Elfin Child: Unfortunately I couldn't update on Sunday, but better late than never, right?  
  
jitterbug204: Yes, her name would be Hermione Potter - thanks for catching that!  
  
AmericanPilot: Don't hit your head on anything while bouncing around! I'm updating!  
  
IluvRupertG: Thanks so much! I'm glad someone thinks I'm a good writer!  
  
A/N: Okay everyone, I want at least twenty reviews altogether before I make another chapter! 


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